The image of school in Russian literature of XIX century: main trends

In the article the beginnings of the school theme in Russian literature are revealed, the main trends which had formed by the end of the XIXth century in the texts about school are traced and the specificity of the uniform school image in classical Russian literature is determined. The peculiarities of the images of school and the teacher in the works by N. Gogol, F. Dostoevsky, A. Chekhov, and by less known authors N. Pomialovsky and N. Garin-Mikhailovsky are considered. The analysis of the “core” school work of this period “Seminary Sketches” by N. Pomialovsky shows consistency, ultimatism and straightforwardness of the author's social criticism. These characteristics are typical of the school theme presented in the works of Russian writers. In the literature of the period under study school is regarded from different points of view. The authors revealed that school is sometimes depicted from the pupil's point of view (“Seminary Sketches” by N. Pomialovsky, “Teenager” by F. Dostoevsky, “Tema's childhood” and “Gymnasium students” by N. Garin-Mikhailovsky), the teacher's one (“Three sisters”, “Teacher”, “Teacher of literature”, “A Journey By Cart”, “Man in case” by A. Chekhov), and the official' s one, the latter is the person responsible for the academic process (“The government inspector” by N. Gogol). The authors infer that regardless whose point of view is presented in the text, the attitude to school in all these works is often negative and the pathos is usually critical. Metaphors, which reveal real attitude of classical Russian writers to school (hell-prison-city police station-police), and the main opposition “school-home” as a constant component of the school text finally complete the image of pre-revolutionary Russian school as no-liberty space.